Unexpected Benefits After Closing the Sale of an Investment Property in Antelope

We all wish the investment properties in Antelope were as cute as this home!

When I agreed to list and sell an investment property in Antelope, I did not realize the seller would become a good friend. Although, in retrospect, I don’t know why not. Most of my friends are a combination of other agents, real estate professionals and former clients, when I stop to think about it. When I was younger, I drew a hard line between “friends” and work relationships, but now that I’m in my 60s, that line is blurred, and it’s OK. When you’re as dedicated as I to real estate, the business and your personal life become one and the same on many levels.

I listed this home around the end of November, just before I left for my wor-cation in Hawaii last winter. In case you don’t know, a wor-cation is when I get away, generally by myself for a few weeks to a month, when the real estate business slows a little in Sacramento. Business never comes to a dead stop, but it does tend to relax its intensity in December. Which means I work in front of my computer with cellphone nearby for only 4 hours before hitting the beach. As I lie in the sun reading a book, I stash my iPad by my side for emails and that occasional *Ingress portal hack. It’s a great way to unwind, yet still work and sell Sacramento real estate.

Almost immediately upon listing the investment property in Antelope, we received a lowball offer from that big investment group and its robo-agents. I like these because we can use them to create multiple-offer situations to drive up the price for my sellers, so I say: keep those lowballs coming guys! My seller was concerned she would not make a profit because her home had been previously underwater. Not anymore, though!

We talked by phone while I was in Hawaii. I had been strolling through the ancient lava beds and historical site at the Marriott, craddling my iPad, on which I was playing Ingress, and yakking on my cell with my free hand. At one point, I asked the seller, “Whatever possessed you to buy this investment property in Antelope?” She is a European foreigner working in the Midwest. How did she end up with a rental home in Antelope? By the time she reached the end of her remarkable story, I received a message I’ve never seen before on my iPad. It said my iPad was “too hot” (from exposure to the sun) and would turn itself off!

There were repair issues to negotiate for the investment property in Antelope, but we successfully navigated those minor concerns. In the end, the seller received more than list price, and many thousands of dollars she had not counted on, due in part to my aggressive listing approach and coupled with the fact she did not owe the taxes she was afraid she would owe.

We will stay in touch, we decided, and we chatted yesterday after closing while the seller packed for a trip to Geneva. Gotta take wool socks and a warm hat.

*Elizabeth Weintraub has 2 Ingress Portals named after her on the islands of Lanai and Molokai.